Senator Hillary Clinton has really been through a lot over the last six months. In November of 2007, she was the front-runner by a long margin in the democratic race. She was able to look over the Republican field and know that she was smart enough and political enough to beat any of the Republicans in the general election. She was going to be the next president of the United States.

Well, that was six months ago. She lost Iowa, but had a nice come back in New Hampshire. She split “Super Tuesday” – not so good. She then lost 12 or 13 contests in a row. Just like that, she went from front-runner to runner-up.

Hillary Clinton has tried everything that she can to bridge the gap. She pulled out the 3 a.m. commercial. She sat down with the man who tried to bring down her husband with his publishing empire. She has flat-out lied about her trip to Bosnia. She even quoted Karl Rove as if Democrats would believe that he was a credible source.

Fortunately, in each successive generation, this nation was blessed by men and women who refused to accept their assigned place as second-class citizens. Men and women who saw America not as it was, but as it could and should be, and committed themselves to extending the frontiers of our democracy. The abolitionists and all who fought to end slavery and ensure freedom came with the full right of citizenship. The tenacious women and a few brave men who gathered at the Seneca Falls convention back in 1848 to demand the right to vote.

It took more than 70 years of struggle, setbacks, and grinding hard work and only one of those original suffragists lived to see women cast their ballots. There are women here today – as with my own mother – who were born before the Constitution granted us the right to vote. This is not something lost in the mists of memory and history; this is real. The generations here in this room have seen change. The men and women who knew their Constitutional right to vote meant little when poll taxes and literacy tests, violence, and intimidation made it impossible to exercise their right, so they marched and protested, faced dogs and tear gas, knelt down on that bridge in Selma to pray and were beaten within an inch of their lives.

What is she talking about, you ask? Throughout this diatribe, Clinton acts as if Florida and Michigan were forced to move their primaries up. She doesn’t ever acknowledge that it was Florida and Michigan themselves who were hell-bent on moving their primary date. She never mentions that the Democratic National Committee begged Florida and Michigan to stay where they were but they didn’t. They both saw themselves as king-makers (It would have been very interesting if instead of trying to move their primaries up they both sought to move their primaries back into May).

Back in September, the candidates had to agree to honor the spanking that Florida and Michigan were going to take or the violator would not be allowed to campaign in any of the first four contests. Clinton campaign manager Patti Sollis Doyle said, “We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.” She went on, “And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role. Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.”

Where is this part in her speech? Where is the part about sticking with the rules, not just when they serve you, but throughout the process? I continue to be increasingly disappointed with Clinton. I thought that she was on our side- a progressive. Maybe the stress of going from front-runner to runner-up has been too much. Maybe this is what it looks like when Clinton loses her marbles.

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Errington C. Thompson, MD

Dr. Thompson is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats.

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